SWAN 38

Sparkman & Stephens’ Swan 38 from the 1970s is known as one of the all-time classic cruiser-racers for good reason, as David Harding discovers

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OWNER A Yachtmaster Ocean and lifelong cruising sailor, DONALD BEGG completed a global circumnavigation in his previous boat, a Bowman 48. He bought the Swan for more local sailing, but has continued to cruise extensively.

Some boats’ reputation is such that you might feel almost daunted by the prospect of sailing them, let alone writing about them.

If they're as good as they're cracked up to be, you might simply find yourself repeating things that have been said before, over years or even decades. And if they're not? Do you risk invoking the wrath of diehard enthusiasts who won't hear a word said against them?

Thankfully, any concerns I might have had on this score didn’t stop me accepting an invitation to sail with Donald Begg on his Swan 38. After all, the Swan 38 is one of those boats that you just have to sail during your lifetime, in the same way that you have to sail the S&S 34 and Contessa 32. With some of these boats, you can take the approach that most of what has been written about them was written a long time ago, and that what applied then might not be seen as quite so relevant today. Reputations are reputations nonetheless, and the fashions of the day play no part in the way the sea treats the boats that sail on it.

To today’s younger boat show visitors especially, a boat like the Swan 38 might seem irrelevant and outdated. Compared with a typical modern 38-footer, she’s dark and cramped below decks. She’s not as fast or even as steady downwind in a breeze, and that enormous foretriangle is going to call for some serious winching every time you tack. Then you have that high, up-and-over bridgedeck that means you have to – well, climb up and over it to go down below.